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George Palmer (EastEnders)
Encyclopedia
George Palmer is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Paul Moriarty. He appeared between 1996 and 1998, but was one of many characters axed by then Executive Producer Matthew Robinson.
disapproves of the business and tries to petition against it. Pragmatically, George begins wooing Peggy in order to stop the objections to his club, but this eventually blossoms into genuine attraction.
George supports Peggy through breast cancer and they announce their engagement at Christmas 1996. However, Peggy dumps George when her son Phil
tells her about his illegal activities. George flees to New Zealand where his import/export business is based, and in his absence, Peggy is menaced by masked men who are looking for George. Peggy subsequently has nothing more to do with George.
George's daughter Annie
moves to Walford to help her father run his club. Her relationship with George is strained, as Annie has always felt her father wanted a son, and Annie continuously tries to prove her worth to her father. George starts a romance with widow
Rosa di Marco
, and they eventually get engaged. It emerges that he had an affair with Rosa years before moving to Albert Square
, when her husband Giuseppe was in prison, which put doubt in Rosa's mind about who fathered her son Gianni
. A DNA
test confirms George is not the father. George then broke off the engagement and goes back to New Zealand in 1998.
George had been described as "shady". Moriarty has described his character's original outline as given to him by the production crew when he accepted the role: "The man’s background, as it was explained in the prepared bio which I received, was pretty nasty. He was a violent man-very bad news. He murdered people. He’d been this vicious boxer who punched and clawed his way up the ladder, disposing of a body here and there over the years if it helped him get to where he wanted to go. He wasn’t just into fencing stolen goods, you know! He was really meant to be this hard, ruthless bastard." However, as Moriarty has inferred, his character altered somewhat from the original outline following the development of his relationship with the soap's matriarch Peggy Mitchell
, played by Barbara Windsor
: "Obviously the character evolved in a certain way as the writers wanted to pursue the idea of George being a love interest for one of their important leading ladies. They simply wouldn’t allow her to be involved with a cold-blooded murderer because that wouldn’t reflect well in her character. Besides, inevitable comparisons would have then been drawn between Peggy and George on EastEnders, and Barbara having been married in real life to a gangster, Ronnie Knight." Despite this, as author Kate Lock has suggested, "George Palmer's name carried serious clout in the criminal underworld" and it was these dalliences in illegal activity that eventually ended George and Peggy's romance. Moriarty has been asked about Peggy's negative reaction to George's criminality because, as the interviewer noted, Peggy's backstory consists of a first marriage to a suggested gangster, Eric Mitchell, and Peggy had accepted his dealings and turned a blind-eye. Moriarty responded, "I suppose [Peggy being] made landlady [of the soap's pub] did that to her - airs and graces! But that’s what happens on soaps if you stay a long-term character. You’ve got to be made sympathetic and even moral to an extent. So they had Peggy and George being all right for a while, and then George would inevitably screw up and they’d make up again - over and over. Barbara turned to me one night as we were driving home and said, 'This is getting to be bloody boring now, isn’t it?' She wasn’t half right. Quite frankly, the show didn’t know what to make of George. That’s why they brought on [his daughter] Annie[ Nadia Sawalha
] - to do the dirty work for him! That’s actually quite accurate of the East End villain these days. They swan around in these dapper suits and get someone else to hide the money-or the bodies."
The character was one of many to be axed in 1998 by Executive Producer Matthew Robinson, following a dip in ratings.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, played by Paul Moriarty. He appeared between 1996 and 1998, but was one of many characters axed by then Executive Producer Matthew Robinson.
Storylines
George, a prominent figure in the East End criminal underworld, owns an illegal gambling den/money laundering operation, which masquerades as a members' only club known as The Market Cellar. Peggy MitchellPeggy Mitchell
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Peggy was initially played by Jo Warne when she first appeared on 30 April 1991, featuring in the series on a recurring basis over several weeks. Peggy was reintroduced in 1994, recast and was then played by...
disapproves of the business and tries to petition against it. Pragmatically, George begins wooing Peggy in order to stop the objections to his club, but this eventually blossoms into genuine attraction.
George supports Peggy through breast cancer and they announce their engagement at Christmas 1996. However, Peggy dumps George when her son Phil
Phil Mitchell
Philip James "Phil" Mitchell is a long-running fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden.Phil first arrived in Albert Square on 20 February 1990, and was soon joined by his brother, Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy...
tells her about his illegal activities. George flees to New Zealand where his import/export business is based, and in his absence, Peggy is menaced by masked men who are looking for George. Peggy subsequently has nothing more to do with George.
George's daughter Annie
Annie Palmer
Annie Palmer is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nadia Sawalha. Annie was portrayed as a hard-nosed businesswoman, who wasn't averse to dabbling on the wrong side of the law...
moves to Walford to help her father run his club. Her relationship with George is strained, as Annie has always felt her father wanted a son, and Annie continuously tries to prove her worth to her father. George starts a romance with widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
Rosa di Marco
Rosa di Marco
Rosa di Marco is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Louise Jameson. She is the mother of Beppe , Gianni , Teresa and Nicky di Marco .-Storylines:...
, and they eventually get engaged. It emerges that he had an affair with Rosa years before moving to Albert Square
Albert Square
Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. The square's design was based on the real life Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after the real...
, when her husband Giuseppe was in prison, which put doubt in Rosa's mind about who fathered her son Gianni
Gianni di Marco
Gianni di Marco is a fictional character from the BBC serial drama EastEnders, played by Marc Bannerman from 1998 to 2000.-Storylines:Gianni arrived in Walford along with the rest of the di Marco family in 1998. Gianni was the younger of the two brothers in the family, the other being Beppe di Marco...
. A DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
test confirms George is not the father. George then broke off the engagement and goes back to New Zealand in 1998.
Creation and development
Actor Paul Moriarty was asked to read for the role of George along with 10 other actors. Moriarty was called back instantly and asked to begin working on the role the following day. He has commented to an American fan-based publication, "[It was] quite overwhelming. I had watched the show but not religiously [...] So I show up at [the studios in] Borehamwood the very next day, straight to make-up and then onto [the soap's setting of] Albert Square to do my first bit [...] I might just as well have landed on Mars."George had been described as "shady". Moriarty has described his character's original outline as given to him by the production crew when he accepted the role: "The man’s background, as it was explained in the prepared bio which I received, was pretty nasty. He was a violent man-very bad news. He murdered people. He’d been this vicious boxer who punched and clawed his way up the ladder, disposing of a body here and there over the years if it helped him get to where he wanted to go. He wasn’t just into fencing stolen goods, you know! He was really meant to be this hard, ruthless bastard." However, as Moriarty has inferred, his character altered somewhat from the original outline following the development of his relationship with the soap's matriarch Peggy Mitchell
Peggy Mitchell
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Peggy was initially played by Jo Warne when she first appeared on 30 April 1991, featuring in the series on a recurring basis over several weeks. Peggy was reintroduced in 1994, recast and was then played by...
, played by Barbara Windsor
Barbara Windsor
Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....
: "Obviously the character evolved in a certain way as the writers wanted to pursue the idea of George being a love interest for one of their important leading ladies. They simply wouldn’t allow her to be involved with a cold-blooded murderer because that wouldn’t reflect well in her character. Besides, inevitable comparisons would have then been drawn between Peggy and George on EastEnders, and Barbara having been married in real life to a gangster, Ronnie Knight." Despite this, as author Kate Lock has suggested, "George Palmer's name carried serious clout in the criminal underworld" and it was these dalliences in illegal activity that eventually ended George and Peggy's romance. Moriarty has been asked about Peggy's negative reaction to George's criminality because, as the interviewer noted, Peggy's backstory consists of a first marriage to a suggested gangster, Eric Mitchell, and Peggy had accepted his dealings and turned a blind-eye. Moriarty responded, "I suppose [Peggy being] made landlady [of the soap's pub] did that to her - airs and graces! But that’s what happens on soaps if you stay a long-term character. You’ve got to be made sympathetic and even moral to an extent. So they had Peggy and George being all right for a while, and then George would inevitably screw up and they’d make up again - over and over. Barbara turned to me one night as we were driving home and said, 'This is getting to be bloody boring now, isn’t it?' She wasn’t half right. Quite frankly, the show didn’t know what to make of George. That’s why they brought on [his daughter] Annie
Nadia Sawalha
Nadia Sawalha is an English actress and television presenter.Sawalha is perhaps best known for her role as Annie Palmer in the BBC soap opera EastEnders during the 1990s, although most of her television work is now as a presenter rather than an actress...
The character was one of many to be axed in 1998 by Executive Producer Matthew Robinson, following a dip in ratings.